Writing Captions

Need some creative writing ideas to help your students.  Writing captions is harder than you think.  They  have to be short and express creativity. Scholastic News has a section in their website that allows students to write and submit a caption for a picture each week.  Below is the picture for this week.

I was thinking this would be a great weekly activity for the classroom. Print the picture and have your students come up with the caption. They could work in groups or individually.   Have them vote on the best two and you submit those.  That way everyone is sharing ideas and trying to come up with the best.  The next week you can see which captions were chosen.  

All students can submit a caption they came up with, but I think the sharing and explaining would help some of us "less creative" individuals. I also am thinking of some of my past students who would just submit anything so they could say they did and would have benefited by the sharing, etc.

Earth Science Link Up

"Earth Science Week" 

Linky Party

Earth Science Week is October 9-15.

I thought I would host my first  linky party.  The topic is Earth Science.  Please link any resources that you feel might benefit teachers.  You can link blog posts, Internet resources you found helpful, etc.  Please link resources for all grade levels.

Guidelines:
1.  If linking to a blog post please link directly to the post.
2.  All posts should deal with Earth Science.

If you don't have a blog, you can still participate.  You can leave comments explaining your ideas and you can participate in the linky party by linking to resources you have found helpful!

Thanks for sharing your ideas and resources!

I Heart Your Blog Award Received

I would like to thank Maria from Charmed in Third Grade blog for this wonderful award.  She has brightened my week!  Thank you so much for extending this to me.

Here is the story of this honor.

I Heart Your Blog  Award: A dear friend of mine taught me a profound lesson several years ago when she shared her personal mantra, "There Is Only Love". Since then, I have realized that by adopting this mantra in my own life, I have changed my whole approach to everything I experience. That being said, as a total newbie to the teacher's blogging world, I discovered this gold mine of amazingly creative and talented teachers out here in cyber space. There are so many of you spreading the teaching Love around the globe by sharing your ideas and experiences. I just had to create a blog award to celebrate those of you who have touched my heart and inspired me, increasing my LOVE of teaching.   

Thank you for sharing your talent with the world! 

When you are awarded the I Heart Your Blog Award you are asked to do the following things:

1. Give the "I Heart Your Blog "Award to your favorite Top 10 Blogs that have touched your heart and inspired your teaching by listing them on your blog.

2. Contact that person and let them know of their heartfelt award.

3. When you receive the award, copy and paste the graphic on you blog and give a shout out to the person who nominated you.

4. Spread the LOVE by passing the "Heart Your Blog" Award on your Top 10.

I would like to give my I Heart Your Blog Award to the following awesome blogs!

'Most Honorable Profession': Teacher

Finland's 'most honorable profession':  Teacher

• Only 10% of 7,000 teacher applicants to primary school applicants to primary school programs are accepted in Finland
• Finland tops international tests rankings, but doesn't use standardized tests domestically
• "It is a patriotic, national calling to be a teacher," said one Finnish teacher
• "In Finland, it is a tremendous honor to be a teacher, and teachers are afforded a status comparable to what doctors, lawyers and other highly regarded professionals enjoy in the U.S.,' said one teacher.
• In addition, like other professions, teachers gain seniority and tenure primarily on the basis of teaching and experience, and teacher unions have a strong voice in shaping education policy--all very controversial in the United States.

Finland's 'most honorable profession':  Teacher is an article at CNN.  I encourage you to read it and come back and share your thoughts.  Also, if there are any teachers from West Virginia I encourage you to leave your comments on your take, good or bad.  Please read the article and share your thoughts.  If you have a post that ties in, please leave a link in the comments.

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What Teachers Really Want to Tell Parents

Every parent should have to read the article by Ron Clark at CNN.

Thank you Lessons Learned Blog for sharing it.  The article is called What teachers really want to tell parents.  

After you read the article, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts about it.

Please comment.  I would like to get everyone's point of view and experiences.  If you have a blog post about parent interactions, please post a link so we can read it.